Jaffna Library, South Asia's finest, Sri Lanka`s jealousy

... From its early origins as a reading room, which was inaugurated on August 1, 1934, the library had evolved as a part of the Jaffna psyche and the desire of its people to attain higher levels of education. Early records say that the public response was so huge that crowds thronged the place despite the lack of chairs. This reading room was handed over to the Jaffna authorities on January 1, 1935. Then it had 844 books, of which 694 were gifts from the public, which included leading names of Jaffna society and institutions such as the Madras Bible Society, the Wesleyan Society, the Colombo Muslims Society and the Jaffna Traders Organisation. Owing to lack of space, the library was shifted to a larger premises in 1936.

... The foundation stone for this library was laid on May 29, 1954 by the Mayor of Jaffna and a host of dignitaries, including top diplomats representing India, the United States and the United Kingdom. The Asian Development Programme and the Indian High Commissioner gave monetary assistance.

Destruction in 1981

Burning of Jaffna library was a watershed event in the ongoing Sri Lankan civil war. A Sinhalese mob went on a rampage on the nights of May 31 to June 2 1981, burning the market area of Jaffna, the office of a Tamil newspaper, the home of the member of Parliament for Jaffna, the Jaffna Public Library and killing four people.

The destruction of the Jaffna Public Library was the incident which appeared to cause the most distress to the people of Jaffna.

At the time it was South Asia`s biggest library. The 95,000 volumes of the Public Library destroyed by the fire included numerous culturally important and irreplaceable manuscripts. Witnesses reported the presence of uniformed security e officers in the mob and their involvement in the deaths of four individuals.3 [1]

"...a large group of police (estimated variously from 100-200) went on rampage on the nights of May 31-June 1 (1981) and June 1-2 burning the market area of Jaffna, the office of the Tamil Newspaper, the home of the member of Parliament for Jaffna and the Jaffna Public Library... The widespread damage in Jaffna as a result of the actions of the police were evident during the visit of the ICJ observer in Jaffna in August...

The destruction of the Jaffna Public Library was the incident which appeared to cause the most distress to the people of Jaffna. The ICJ observer heard many comments from both Sinhalese and Tamils concerning the senseless destruction by arson of this most important cultural centre in the Tamil area.

Initial reports 

According to Nancy Murray in an article titled, the State against the Tamils in Sri Lanka - Racism and the Authoritarian State - Race & Class , Summer 1984 wrote that several high ranking Sinhalese security officers and two cabinet ministers, Cyril Mathew and Gamini Dissanayakewere present in the town of Jaffna, uniformed security men and plainclothes thugs carried out some well organised acts of destruction.[2][3]
...

Four people were killed outright. No mention of this appeared in the national newspapers, not even the burning of the Library, the symbol of the Tamils` cultural identity. The government delayed bringing in emergency rule until 2 June, by which time key targets had been destroyed.[6][7]

Allegation by President Premadasa 

In 1991 the then president of Sri Lanka Premadasa publicly proclaimed that his party members Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake were directly involved in the burning of the library in 1981[8]

Government investigation and results 

According to Orville H.Schell, Chairman of the Americas Watch Committee, and Head of the Amnesty International 1982 fact finding mission to Sri Lanka, the government did not institute an independent investigation to establish responsibility for these killings in May and June 1981 and take measures against those responsible. Instead, one police officer involved was promoted and emergency legislation was introduced facilitating further killings.[9]